Johnson & Wales students, faculty, sponsors and community members celebrated the reopening of the campus’ dormant centerpiece on Tuesday evening. Champagne and artfully prepared food were both as abundant as you’d expect from an institution where more than half the students pursue culinary studies. The university’s 2000 acquisition of land for its Denver campus included the shuttered building, which was built in 1886 for the Colorado Women’s College. Seventeen million dollars later, the new Centennial Hall will serve as a student union, event center, and classroom building, but also as a reminder of the campus’ history.

(Read more about Johnson & Wales’ $17 million renovation)